So it’s been brought to my attention that you folks really like it when I talk about builds in The Structure. So, I thought as the BWE3 edition, we’d do some theorycrafting. But first, let’s talk about the beta!

Beta Weekend Event 3

In case you live under a rock, we get to play the asura and sylvari for the first time this beta! We’re also starting completely fresh this time. Everything except your contacts will have been erased. This means none of your previous characters will be there. Combined with the small number of servers, we’re essentially simulating launch day for them on Friday. The match-up algorithm for WvW has been expanded, so there should be better WvW going on over the weekend. But, most importantly for us SPvP folks: we get a new map. This one will be a throw-back to GvG maps from the original Guild Wars. From the mini-map we saw on Reddit a while back, it appears to be similar to the Warrior Isle map from GW if you ever did GvG in that game.

Now, I’ve got a few builds for you guys to take for a spin this beta. Obviously, there will be (potentially significant) changes to the traits and skills of each profession. There will likely be new things added or taken away, so use your best judgement when picking replacements or looking at potential additions to each build. I also (obviously) can’t guarantee that every build will work for every one of you. Pick the one you think suits you best and learn that. If it’s not your style or you just aren’t getting it, then it’s time to REROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL (cue Darnell). Naturally, if anyone asks you about your build, you should tell them about The Structure. Anyway, we’re going to look at an elementalist, ranger, and warrior build this week, in that order.

The Daggermentalist

[Build Using Luna-Atra]

Weapons: Dagger/Dagger

Slot Skills: Glyph of Elemental Harmony, Cleansing Flame, Mist Form, Armor of Earth, Tornado

Traits: 30-0-0-30-10: Spell Slinger, Pyromancer’s Alacrity, Pyromancer’s Puissance,  Soothing Disruption, Cantrip Mastery, Stop Drop and Roll, Elemental Attunement

Gear: Smoldering/Chilling Sigils, Elementalist Runes, Rabid Amulet/Jewel

You really have to know all of the attunements for this build, but try to do the following: Start in air or earth attunement so you can Ride the Lightning or Magnetic Grasp for gap closers then go fire for might plus damage and rely on fire a lot for damage. Use water and air a lot for general defense, getting away, or even keeping them closer to you. Use the cantrips when really necessary: Cleansing Fire gets you out of stun, Mist Form makes you completely invulnerable, and Armor of Earth gives you stability. So, use CF when you get stunned, MF when you really need those couple seconds to get away while getting the snot beat out of you, and AoE when you get against something like a hammer warrior/guardian that use a lot of movement physical effects against you.

The Not-So-Ranged Ranger

[Build Using Luna-Atra]

Weapons: Greatsword and Sword/Warhorn

Slot Skills: Heal As One, Flame Trap, Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Entangle

Traits: 0-30-10-30-0: Trapper’s Knowledge, Trapper’s Expertise, Trap Potency, Master Trapper, Strength of Spirit, Two-Handed Training, Evasive Purity

Gear: Battle and Battle/Energy Sigils, Fighter Runes, Soldier’s Amulet/Jewel

The major weakness of this build is that it only has one gap closer. The major strength of this build is how hard it is to get away from once you’re in range. When you’re just running around the map, use the warhorn to get around faster. If you come up on some enemy players, hope to use Call of the Wild right as you enter the fray so that when you swap, you’ll start the fight with four stacks of might as well as swiftness and fury. Use Flame Trap for unexpected damage while using Spike Trap and Frost Trap to either keep enemies in range or kite enemies you need to get away from. When you’re in over your head, use the sword skills for defense and Call of the Wild as a nice swiftness buff to some good distance between you when you can.

The John Henry Warrior

[Build Using Luna-Atra]

Weapons: Hammer and Hammer

Slot Skills: Mending, Bull’s Charge, “Shake It Off!”, Balanced Stance, Signet of Rage

Traits: 10-0-30-0-30: Berserker’s Power, Embrace the Pain, Blunt Weapon Master, Merciless Hammer, Warrior’s Sprint, Mobile Strikes, Quick Bursts

Gear: Doom and Doom Sigils, Fighter Runes, Soldier’s Amulet/Jewel

Much like the ranger build, the obvious disadvantage here is having only Bull’s Charge for a gap-closer. This means you’re going to have to be a little more clever in starting a fight, rather than simply running up to the enemy head on and jumping in (so, popping around corners, dropping off of roof tops, etc.). You only need BC at the beginning of the fight, as you’ll be more than capable of staying on top of the enemy in the fight. Swap weapons often, especially right before letting loose Earthshaker, for high damage spikes and adrenaline gain. Use “Shake It Off!” for getting out of stuns, and Balanced Stance for when you come up to someone else that’s focusing on a lot of physical effects.

Field Testing

Take your favorite build and go ROFLstomp some poor, unsuspecting noobs over the weekend! Come back and talk about it on Monday by commenting about it here or talking about your general successes/failures on the GW2 WvW forums! As usual, I will be available throughout the beta for anyone to chat with, ask questions, etc. I’ll be rolling the Darkhaven server with Triple B (Gamebreaker TV community) on my usual Yoshi Gwtwo beta character name. Hope to see you all there!

This week, for The Structure, we’re going to venture off the beaten path a little bit. It haven’t seen this talked about for awhile, but it’s probably going to resurface and be debated again since the asura are in BWE3. “It” is the “asura problem”. This is going to be a good deal shorter than most articles as personal stuff has restricted some of my time lately, but it’ll still be worth reading.

Asura… Problem?

How could these cute guys ever be a problem?

The asura problem is the name fans came up with for a forseen potential problem in SPvP surrounding the asura. Everyone knows the asura are smaller than the other races; it’s why we love them. It makes them cute. It also makes them harder to click on in a hurry. Some fans also worry they’ll have a smaller hitbox or reach, but that notion was shot down by ANet months ago. The fans who came up with this idea foresaw rapidly trying to click on little asura in the heat of battle and having trouble because they’re not charr-sized. If it’s really an issue, what could the implications be?

First, the entire competitive field would be asura. If you weren’t an asura, you’d be a noob. Since not having unequal races is the reason behind not having racial skills in PvP, it would look really dumb on ArenaNet’s part. Secondly, it would cause a lot less future-PvP players to get into it when they find out they have to reroll to be any good. Lastly, and more importantly, it would be incredibly detrimental to ANet’s stated goal of making Guild Wars 2 an eSport. If this has you worried, don’t be!

Size Doesn’t Matter For Once

Go ahead, make the jokes, get it out of your system.

The asura problem isn’t actually a problem. It’s not going to be something anyone’s going to worry about. There are some people out there who will swear to it and blame their losses on it when they’re not asura (and naturally credit their victories to their own skill if they are asura), but there’s no issue for targeting.

SPvP matches are relatively small. If they’re at a competitive level where the problem would matter, you’re not going to have large five-on-five fights. You’re going to have a lot of one-on-one, two-on-two or two-on-one fights across the map. So, if there’s an asura in the fight, you can simply hit the tab key at most twice and have them targeted.

It’s a weak reason, but there’s a much better one: you don’t have to target anything. There’s nothing for you to actually have to target. All you have to do is point your character in the right direction, and you’ll still hit the little buggers. If you’re melee, all you have to do is run up on top of them and swing.

Beta Weekend Event 3

As if anyone actually needs a reminder, BWE3 is next weekend from the same noon Friday to midnight Sunday time frame. It’s the last beta before launch, so make it all count! Pay attention while you’re PvPing to the asura, and see how much of a problem they’re not! The Structure will go live on Thursday next week so you can all read it before the beta. I’ll be theorycrafting some builds for all of you to try out and report back on!

So, I got a request for a video about making balanced SPvP builds, so here’s two examples with explanations and some general tips.

I thought I’d share with everyone a few of the builds I’ve been using in SPvP, so here are my top and bottom three builds. I’ll start with the top three, and then cover the bottom three and how I think I can improve them (if possible).

Quad-Dagger Thief

So this build was an improvement on the one I’d used during BWE1. Essentially, I whittle enemies down and use Heartseeker to kill off anyone near me with low health. Utility skills are there to work as gap closers, as well as Steal. I rely on dodging and stealth for defense rather than putting a lot of traits or stats into it. The traits are a little weird, not having 30 in any line, but it does help balance the build out a bit and everything works together fairly well.

I use two identical weapon sets, because of the usefulness of the sigils and the fact that I have essentially everything I need in the one weapon set and slot skills (plenty of gap closers, finishers, stealth, etc.). My runes were basically picked to improve the critical aspect of my damage, which lets my hits become even bigger, especially after weapon swap.

[Luna-Atra Link]

Weapon Sets: Dagger/Dagger, Dagger/Dagger

Slot Skills: Signet of Malice, Infiltrator’s Signet, Scorpion Wire, Signet of Shadows, Dagger Storm

Trait Allocation: 20-20-20-10

Major Traits: Sundering Strikes, Dagger Training, Executioner Combo Crit Chance, Infusion of Shadow, Patience, Fleet of Foot

Sigils: Doom/Intelligence, Doom/Intelligence

Runes: Golemancer x5, Rage x1

Amulet: Berserker’s Amulet w/ Berserker’s Jewel

Warding Guardian

This is another improvement on one of my BWE1 builds. Basically, I build the most defensive guardian I can, focusing purely on keeping the enemy out of objectives. Then, I play it offensively, and use those same skills to run up to objectives and force the enemy out, allowing me to capture them. I don’t really focus on, or almost ever use, the virtues simply because I find their activated effects to be incredibly underwhelming for disabling the passive effects.

I spend roughly equal time using each weapon set, switching between them as I need certain skills or have everything on recharge. The sigils work to create even more defensiveness, and the runes I pick are the most defensive runes we have available.

[Luna-Atra Link]

Weapon Sets: Mace/Shield, Hammer

Slot Skills: Signet of Resolve, Purging Flames, Sanctuary, Wall of Reflection, Tome of Courage

Trait Allocation: 0-0-20-20-30

Major Traits: Strength in Numbers, Honorable Shield, Resolute Healer, Two-Handed Mastery, Consecrated Ground, Master of Consecrations, Extended Consecrations

Sigils: Energy/Hydromancy, Energy

Runes: Dolyak x6

Amulet: Soldier’s Amulet w/ Soldier’s Jewel

Minion Master Necromancer

One of my fellow writers at GW2 WvW devised a MM build for necromancers, and I basically used that with the minor adjustment of using double daggers for the main weapon set and then picking gear. Essentially, you use your minions as an enormous meat shield and source of more health while laying marks down, efficiently tanking with death shroud, and overwhelming the enemy with targets. Even without making large use of the minion’s toggle skills, the build is highly effective.

I ran with the double daggers over the originally proposed dagger/warhorn because I personally preferred the shorter recharge skills with the blind/condition transfer and weaken/bleed. The sigils I chose to keep me alive a bit better, while the runes give me an even larger health pool with increased damage as well as letting me get back and forth between sets quicker.

[Luna-Atra Link]

Weapon Sets: Dagger/Dagger, Staff

Slot Skills: Summon Blood Fiend, Summon Bone Minions, Summon Bone Fiend, Summon Flesh Wurm, Summon Flesh Golem

Trait Allocation: 20-0-30-20-0

Major Traits: Reaper’s Might, Training of the Master, Minion Master, Flesh of the Master, Death Nova, Bloodthirst, Vampiric Master

Sigils: Leeching/Energy, Energy

Runes: Warrior x6

Amulet: Soldier’s Amulet w/ Soldier’s Jewel

Signet Elementalist

This was not my worst build, but definitely in the bottom three. As far as I’m concerned, double-dagger is the only way to go for an ele in SPvP, but the slot skills and traits need redoing. Instead of the signets, I plan on switching to a bigger focus on cantrips. Also, since the weapon skills have so many defensive uses, I’ll end up using more offensive traits as well to get the damage out better. Essentially, the build was too defensively, and the signets just weren’t as effective as I’d hoped.

[Luna-Atra Link for Old Build]

Weapon Sets: Dagger/Dagger

Slot Skills: Glyph of Elemental Harmony, Signet of Air, Signet of Earth, Signet of Water, Tornado

Trait Allocation: 0-20-30-0-20

Major Traits: Tempest Strength, Aeromancer’s Alacrity, Signet Master, Geomancer’s Alacrity, Written in Stone, Elemental Attunement, Arcane Energy

Sigils: Agony/Chilling

Runes: Melandru x6

Amulet: Knight’s Amulet w/ Knight’s Jewel

[Luna-Atra Link for Planned Revision]

Weapon Sets: Dagger/Dagger

Slot Skills: Glyph of Elemental Harmony, Cleansing Fire, Armor of Earth, Mist Form, Tornado

Trait Allocation: 30-0-0-20-20

Major Traits: Spell Slinger, Internal Fire, Pyromancer’s Puissance, Soothing Disruption, Cantrip Mastery, Elemental Attunement, Windborne Dagger

Sigils: Force, Smoldering

Runes: Strength x6

Amulet: Carrion Amulet w/ Carrion Jewel

Double Bow Ranger

So this build I honestly expected to fail, because I was rushing when I build it and not really putting much thought into it. I don’t really have plans to fix it, but in order to fix it, I would simply need to find a better defensive weapon set to replace the shortbow. The longbow was adequately powerful, but the shortbow left a lot to be desired for ways to simply get away from people or survive close combat. I was really hoping for blasting people to death from ranged with the longbow and using the shortbow to keep them at bay if they got close enough. Only the first part of that happened.

[Luna-Atra Link]

Weapon Sets: Longbow, Shortbow

Slot Skills: Heal As One, Muddy Terrain, Signet of Stone, Signet of the Hunt, Rampage As One

Trait Allocation: 30-20-20

Major Traits: Signet Mastery, Eagle Eye, Signet of the Beastmaster, Sharpened Edges, Quickdraw, Vigorous Renewal, Wilderness Knowledge

Sigils: Force/Hobbling

Runes: Warrior x6

Amulet: Soldier’s Amulet w/ Soldier’s Jewel

Critical Axe Warrior

This one was by far the worst build I used all beta. I gave up after two matches with it, because it simply sucked. If you want a build to see how many times you can die in a single match, use this. Much like the ranger build above, I was rushing when I made this. I saw a couple things I thought would hopefully work together (signets, critical, axes, sounds good, right?) and threw it together quickly trying to get a little warrior footage in on Sunday night. It was just an enormous flop, really. I don’t even want to try to fix it. Not enough damage output to be a purely offensive build without any defense.

[Luna-Atra Link]

Weapon Sets: Axe/Axe, Sword/Warhorn

Slot Skills: Healing Signet, Signet of Fury, Signet of Might, Dolyak Signet, Signet of Rage

Trait Allocation: 30-20-0-0-20

Major Traits: Restorative Strength, Weapon Specialization, Axe Mastery, Deep Strike, Furious, Heightened Focus, Sharpened Axes

Sigils: Accuracy/Accuracy, Hobbling/Energy

Runes: Eagle x6

Amulet: Berserker’s Amulet w/ Berserker Jewel

It’s kind of a late and exhaustive night, but I’ll get at least three of the profession guides done tomorrow and possibly another video as well. For now, here’s a video of my minion master SPvP build in action, similar to one created by a fellow writer at GW2 WvW.

Welcome, everyone, to another week of The Structure! I’m sure you all know by now, but ArenaNet announced to us yesterday that Guild Wars 2 will launch on August 28! That means head-start access for pre-purchasers beings August 25. Also, the final BWE will be July 20-22. Now with that out of the way, I figured I would go with another “for new players” topic this week and give everyone the lay of the land — literally! This week I’m going to cover the important points of the two SPvP maps we have thusfar: Battle of Kyhlo and Forest of Niflhel!

Primary Objectives

All SPvP maps at launch will have the same primary objective: “conquest” or capture point. Every map has three objectives. To claim them, simply stand inside and the meter will fill up. To take one from an enemy, stand in the enemy’s objective with more of your team than the enemy team. The meter will empty and then refill. Roughly every two seconds (slightly less), each team gets a point for each objective they hold. In addition, teams earn ten points whenever they kill an enemy player.

Battle of Kyhlo

The first map we got to see in GW2 is an “urban”-themed map named Battle of Kyhlo. The names of the three primary objectives are the mansion (blue objective), windmill (red objective), and clocktower (neutral objective). The windmill and mansion have an access path facing the clocktower and one facing the nearest team base as well as an exit onto a roof path. The clocktower has window entrances along the north and south sides which are accessible via ramps that wrap around the outside of the building. It also can be accessed by two staircases via an archway that runs east-west underneath the building.

In addition to the capture points, there are also trebuchets on the map (one for each team) that act as a secondary objective. Trebuchets can be used used to destroy buildings, kill or knockback enemy players, and even destroy the other trebuchet! If a trebuchet is destroyed, a repair kit will spawn in its team’s base which can be taken to the trebuchet to repair it.

The map itself is full of many buildings and pathways, including paths along the rooftops (pictured in yellow in the map above). There are many small archways (anywhere a path goes under a building) that act as choke points. The clocktower’s archway and the ends of both staircases form choke points to the objective. Both accesses to the mansion and windmill are each natural choke points. Many of the choke points can be avoided by taking alternate routes (e.g., using the roof-top paths for travel or the ramps to enter the clocktower).

There are three major notes I’d like to make for this map. While using the trebuchet, you cannot see the path in front of you or anyone on it until they’re up right beside you. When firing the trebuchet, you have to hold the button to fire further than simply flopping in front of you. There is an excellent hiding point outside both the windmill and mansion objectives to the right of the path facing the clocktower as you’re approaching them.

Forest of Niflhel

Forest of Niflhel was the second map we were shown (and the only other map we’ve seen thusfar) in GW2. The three primary objectives are named the henge (blue objective), the mine (red objective), and the keep (neutral objective). The henge and mine have two access points, one pointing directly inwards, adn the other pointing up at an angle toward the keep. The keep itself can be accessed from ramps on both the eastern and western ends, as well as ramps approaching from the northeast and northwest.

Beyond the primary objectives, there are two NPC bosses, referred to as “forest creatures”, that spawn at the beginning of the game. Whichever player scores the killing blow on a forest creature earns 40 points for his or her team. Once killed, the forest creatures will respawn three minutes after their death.

Unlike the Battle for Kyhlo map, the layout of Forest of Niflhel is very simple. There are no paths along high roof tops and tiny archway choke points. Instead, there are many wide paths that converge on narrower choke points at certain places. There is a major choke point at each entrance to the mine and windmill, and the keep itself is one big choke point. There is also a choke point near each end of the path between the mine and henge. There are also choke points on the paths leading from the mine and henge to the “loop” around the keep.

This map has four little tidbits that I would like to illuminate. The rear-access ramps to the keep are one-way paths: they end in platforms that you cannot climb back onto. Killing forest creatures quickly is very important, as letting the enemy have 40 points a few seconds before you can cost you the match. Additionally, as it is the killing blow that earns the points, one player with a single hard-hitting ability can easily attempt to steal the kill if they can find a decent hiding spot. The henge and mine each have a hiding spot behind the objectives (behind the pillars and behind the mine structure).

Remaining Maps

There are two more maps that we have been promised at launch. One of these maps is a mostly underwater map and the other is supposed to be nostalgic for Guild Wars players of the past. Mini-maps of these two were posted on Reddit a while back that essentially showed a ship-theme for the underwater map with an underwater objective and another map that looked very similar to the Warrior Isle GvG map from GW.

Another week, another wonderful reading experience with The Structure! I hope everyone’s dealing well with their GW2 withdrawals! Just remember there’s the stress test on Wednesday (June 27) from 10am to 2pm PDT (1pm to 5pm EDT, 5pm to 9pm UTC)! This week, we’re going to talk a little bit about eSports and Guild Wars 2. I’ve written about GW2’s eSports viability on my blog before, but this time I’m actually talking about what kind of stuff we’re seeing already that makes it fully-castable.

Naturally, there are the essentials that you have to mention every now and then but shouldn’t talk about much. How much time is left in the match? Who’s ahead in the score? What’s the point-lead like? Which team has which objectives? At the current rate, who will win? Who’s favored to win? They’re really obvious, but we still have to mention them.

It’s also a little bit obvious, but you can talk about the teams in the match. Eventually, certain teams will be known for certain tactics. Certain players will become known for playing certain professions. As the game progresses after launch, we’ll see a lot of different team compositions coming out that will offer a variety of things. Supposedly, five-mesmer teams were ROFLstomping during the last beta.

I would certainly hope someone can tell who’s winning here.

Most of the stuff about the teams in a match are things that should be discussed going into the match and at the very beginning of it. During the match, there are a lot of different map tactics we’ve already seen going on that become crucial. Skills that give Swiftness in an AoE are already becoming a thing, and when it comes to high-end competition post-launch, they’ll be huge. Getting to your first objective and beating the other team to the first objective by two or three seconds could be the end of the match.

Think about it: two very even teams are lined up with almost identical compositions and the entire match is very even. But, the red team got both their objective and the middle objective two ticks earlier than the blue team in the match. That’s four points that the blue team shouldn’t have lost by. If you start thinking about being seconds early on killing Svanir or the Chieftain, you’re really thinking about a huge difference. There are a lot of matches in the hot join SPvP scene that end with a kill on one of the two Forest Creatures. If both creatures spawn when it’s 450 red to 470 blue, but the one nearest the red team spawns two seconds earlier, it’s game over if the blue team can’t somehow steal the kill.

If the other team had a creature kill instead of us, they wouldn’t have won here, but they’d at least be caught up to us.

Much as how you split your initial workers in StarCraft 2 is a huge deal, it will be equally important how teams split up at the beginning of matches. Is it better for their comp to send just one person to the objective nearest their base or will they need two to defend it if the enemy sends one over at the beginning? How many should they send toward the middle and how many should they send toward the Forest Creature or trebuchet or enemy’s objective?

On each map, there will be significant things to look at. Trebuchets can be very effective at killing enemy players out of the clock tower, so it will eventually be necessary to have someone destroy the enemy’s trebuchet. But, when will be the best time to do it? When will we see the time allocated for it? There’s a lot of things that, when you really get into high-level competition, will make some teams look like utter noobs, even though the majority of players will be wondering why it’s bad.

I personally thought this was the best time: when there was nothing else to do.

Here are a few things you could do when you get really picky with people. Blind condition only causes the next hit to miss. If you see someone get blinded and waste their big attack on it, they’re being noob. It also doesn’t stack, so if you see a player blind a player that’s already been blinded, the blinding player is a noob. If you see a player take a jump from one roof to another when it would be a second faster to drop to the ground, that player will be a noob.

Casting obviously isn’t about calling all of the players noobs. Casters have to be good at the game, sure, but many of the players in the matches are going to be better than the casters. But, when you really stop and think about a lot of what we’re already starting to see developing in tactics, and start looking at a lot of footage, there’s a ton of stuff out there that we’ll be able to fill matches with for commentary without digging into pointless things.

Casting isn’t about calling people noobs, but bunching like this deserves it.

Not having a spectator mode obvious puts a huge damper on all of this and puts eSports on the back-burner. ArenaNet knows the necessity of spectator mode to eSports, though, and they’re going to get it to us after launch (building a good PvP system is first priority). In the mean time, go look at some PvP footage. There’s a lot of PvP footage in the GW2WvW video gallery to go through. While you’re watching it, think about them critically. Put yourself in the place of a caster: what would you talk about? What do you see people doing that’s exceptionally good or pathetically bad? What do you see people doing that gives them a clear advantage over others?

Didn’t do anything fancy for this one, it’s just some footage of me on my engineer winning some SPvP. Tomorrow I’ll have a decent-length video coming out of myself and a couple of the GBTV people running around in WvW doing some damage.

Another week, another column for The Structure! So, I made a fair number of builds over the weekend. Some worked out alright, some of them worked really well, and some of them I got ROFLstomped every time I saw another player. They can’t all be zingers. Anyway, as I was looking at some of the talents and some build possibilities, I had a few ideas about how to make a build that really facilitates learning the gist of SPvP and combat better than others. This time around, we’re going to look at one.

Different Levels You Have to Learn

There are actually some similarities here.

In everything you do, there are always multiple levels you have to focus on. If you’re playing an instrument in a wind band, you have to focus on the sound coming out of your own instrument, then you have to focus about matching the rest of your section, and you also have to think about blending with the rest of the band. If you play football (soccer), you have to think about your own technique to direct the ball. You have to think about that defender in front of you and how to beat them. You also have to think about the rest of the players on the field to know when you’re offsides, who’s open, etc., what the score is and how much you need a goal or a stop.

SPvP is very similar. At the lowest level, you have to think about your own skills. You’ve got to worry about when they’re on cooldown, when they’re off cooldown, etc. You’ve got to think about everything on your weapons, as well. Then you have to worry about the battle going on around you and the other players on both sides. Then, you have to think about the match as a whole. The objectives. The timer. The score. That lowest level of focus, on yourself, is the first one you have to have down. You’ve got to know your own abilities well.

Reducing the Workload For Your Brain

Elementalists have 25 skills to worry about at all times.

To a new player, there’s a lot to try to focus on. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. If you don’t have a handle on your own abilities, you’re going to get ROFLstomped by everyone you meet, even with a good build. But, if you don’t learn the higher mechanics, it won’t matter because you’ll be dynamite but never actually helping. So, where can you cut out some of the work? Get yourself a build that makes focusing on yourself less of a big deal.

What are the best ways to minimize the focus requirement of your build? For starters, don’t run with something that places a HEAVY demand on weapon-swapping. It’s always important, but if you’re having to constantly flip weapon bars, that’s a lot of skills. Also, you need relatively simply slot skills that don’t require a lot of thinking. The warrior, as it were, is a great place to start, and here’s why.

The Most Noob-Friendly First-Tier Talent

Signets are very simple, straight-forward skills.

In the Arms tree for warriors, there’s a first-tier talent called Deep Strike. It gives you 40 precision for each unused signet you have equipped. It’s that simple. You create a build using a lot of signets and rely on crits for damage. Trait yourself relatively offensively. Take a lot of Arms, some Strength, and definitely some Discipline (to get reduced signet recharges). Then, gear yourself very balanced. Take precision and vitality or a good mix of stats.

For your slot skills, take all signets: Healing Signet, Dolyak Signet, Signet of Stamina, Signet of Fury, and Signet of Rage. If you set up with dual sword or dual axes in mind, you can have a minimal amount to worry about for weapon swapping (just have a war-horn in the off-hand for getting around faster), leaving most of your focus on your first five skills. Definitely learn what your signets do, but don’t use them unless you actually need to. If you’re loaded with conditions and can’t get away from someone, use the Signet of Stamina. If you need to burst people down quickly, use the Signet of Rage. If someone with a big hammer is coming up to try to knock you around, use Dolyak Signet.

With mostly only six skills to worry about most of the time (main weapon bar and heal), you have a lot less to be on your mind. Now, you’re free to spend more time looking up at the rest of the stuff on the screen and think about the other players and the other parts of the map without fumbling around your number keys or looking down at your cooldowns. You won’t be perfect. You won’t steamroll everyone. But, you’ll have an easier time learning it than you would if you’re worried about running around. Here’s some parting thoughts on what to do and not do when you’re starting out.

Sometimes you just gotta hug that floor to get better.

What to Avoid in Noob-Friendly Builds

• Elementalists - They’re easy to get into in PvE, but in SPvP, having four bars is a lot to think about.
• Engineers’ kits - Again, it’s adding that much more to worry about with lots of bars.
• Mesmer - Clones add an entire extra level of thinking to what you do. They’re rewarding when you’re good with them, but not a great starting point.
• Complex profession mechanics - If pets bug you, death shroud bugs you, etc., avoid those professions.
• Skills that switch into other skills a lot - Just a big hassle, really
• Completely dissimilar weapon sets - The more alike, the less to worry about
• Fully-offensive builds - Trust me, you really want that extra padding to make up for your mistakes.

Other Good Places to Start

• Guardians - The high defense is very forgiving.
• Thieves - They’re not overly simple, but there’s nothing overly complicated.
• Engineers with Turrets - Turrets are getting buffed, and they’re largely use and forget until you need to pick up and move.
• Balanced and defensive builds - Again, it really helps having a little breathing room with the health bar.

Finally after several attempts, I got this to work on Youtube (I really wish there were a better video-hosting service with as wide a range of exposure). Here’s the first of my SPvP videos, completely with SPvP hot-join strategy commentary. Remember to let me know if you have any questions, requests, or ideas for posts or videos!